I have been searching for sources that have Hi Res downloads,.....ambient / electronic. By Hi Res Im referring to cd quality 16 bit @ 44.1k and 24bit Flac files etc....

Bandcamp is the only place Ive come across that makes these available.......anyone know of other sites.

Has iTunes done anything with Apple lossless yet.

Perhaps we are not there yet and if you want this quality then simply buy the cd and put it on your computer. Which is what I have been doing as I will not buy mp3's. I don't have an iPod and if I did I would make the conversion myself if need be.

I'm the same as you. I have a problem paying money for compressed audio, so I still buy CDs and rip them (for pay for lossless if it's available). Like you, I prefer to do the conversions myself. I'm such a control freak.

While I don't use iTunes, I was under the impression that lossless was an option now, though it could be just for select albums. In any case, don't waste your money buying music from there. Everything is in a MP4 (M4A) container, which makes it annoying to deal with outside of iTunes. At least they got rid of the DRM.

Actually I prefer MP4 (M4A) over MP3 whenever possible, and also prefer ALAC over FLAC since most ipods will play it (apple lossless) and most mp3 players will not play FLAC.

Also most of the mastering engineers I have talked to from Howie Weinberg on down prefer the new Mastered for Itunes over standard mp3 as it starts with higher bit rates and is a more controlled process that standard mp3/AAC conversion.

Paul

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"I liken good ambient to good poetry ... enjoyable, often powerful, and usually unpopular" APK

Earth Mantra Netlabel offers free downloads of all its ambient albums in 320kps mp3 and uncompressed FLAC formats. It's all in one download, not separate FLAC files, along with artwork and liner notes for each release.

They've built up a pretty sizable catalogue now, with a pretty good cross-section of ambient music styles and you can sample everything, so you're likely to find something you like there.

Thanks for the response guys. I know of Earth Mantra but did not know flac was available.

There is a fair amount of hi res classical music download sites with wav, aiff & flac options but I fear not much ambient. People need to know Ambient music is the new classical, right.

I did not know iPods played apple losses files.....

I have never done a comparison between ALAC, FLAC & WAV but I have read that wav is considered superior to flac although it seems by a very small margin, still I have no complaints with Flac myself, just wish there was more ambient in losses format.

To clear up any confusion: While ALAC & FLAC use different algorithms, they are sonically identical to WAV (or any uncompressed format). There's zero loss in fidelity. That's why they're called lossless formats.

And yes, I know there are people out there who insist there is a difference between lossless and WAV (or AIFF). Let's just call them crazy.

These sort of comparisons only occur in audiophile circles. Science proves that a Flac & Wav file of the same source is a perfect match. There can be no dispute. Things tend to get a little grey once the human element is add and that $100.000 "Hi-Fi" system.